Round The World and other travels

Flight Log 1: BA1441

Edinburgh (EDI) - London Heathrow (LHR)

Not unusually, I managed to be the first passenger to board the aircraft. It was pleasing to do so via Door 2L and to make the celebrated left turn, albeit into Economy. It was my first time on a 767-operated shuttle flight for many years and I was immediately reminded of a time when this type of aircraft plied the route on a regular basis alongside the more common Boeing 757, a type now eradicated from the BA mainline fleet. I was pleased to note that this was a refurbished example with a clean and tidy internal appearance, a look that certainly could not be taken for granted on BA in recent years. Despite the makeover, I quickly realised that as usual on BA's short-haul Boeings, the headrest could not be persuaded to stay up. As I settled in, I saw further evidence of the refurbishment in the form of a more modern style of overhead locker and flat screen, ceiling-mounted display units in the aisles.

Despite an efficient boarding process, our scheduled departure time came and went. The captain explained that our tug had broken down after being attached to the aircraft. Efforts were being made to restart its engine and a replacement tug was on standby, but as the miscreant vehicle weighed in at 25 tons, it would be no easy matter to get it shifted out of the way. In the event, the ground staff managed to restart the engine and the errant ground vehicle was able to perform its duty and push the aircraft back from its stand 11 minutes behind schedule. After a further 11 minutes, we had left Runway 24 behind and were climbing through the cloud and murk of a thoroughly wet morning, the forecast rain having now arrived from the western side of the country. There was a pleasing, deep roar from the Rolls-Royce engines as we emerged above the cloud into clear skies while still above the M8 corridor. We overflew Motherwell and I had a clear view of the town of Hamilton and Strathclyde Country Park before everything became obscured by a blanket of high-level cloud.

Cabin service started from the front and both aisles were served simultaneously, allowing a particularly rapid pass through the cabin, which in any event was only around 2/3rds full. The woman in 9J decided to move to 9F at this point, which together with 9E had remained empty until then. I requested an apple juice and chose a minuscule pack of 'Real'-branded crisps from the newly introduced snack basket, then read for a while using my new Kindle e-reader.

The first officer announced that there was to be 10 to 15 minutes of ATC holding before we would be allowed to make an approach to one of the westerly runways at Heathrow, with an estimated arrival time of 1215. We were already over West London when we gingerly emerged from the low cloud cover on a particularly grey and damp-looking afternoon. Touchdown on 27R came at 1218 and we parked up on one of the domestic stands at Terminal 5 just five minutes later.

Date: Fri 09 Nov 2012

Aircraft: Boeing 767

Scheduled dep: 1035

Actual departure: 1046

Scheduled arrival: 1205

Actual arrival: 1223

Cabin: Economy (Domestic Shuttle)

Seat: 9K

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